The world is still blurry and seemingly out of focus when Shauna Vayne, the infamous, vampiric Night Huntrer from Demacia slowly opens her eyes.
The room that Vayne is in is only spacious enough to accommodate the narrow bed she is currently lying on, a bedstand and a few folding chairs for the very unlikely prospect of her having visitors. A single, tiny window near the ceiling is shedding a few rays of weak, pale moonlight inside the small infirmary room.
It doesn't take long for Shauna to realize that she has been drugged. However, the hazy memory of white-clad doctors and nurses rushing to her side and frantic questions being asked in deaf ears, quickly dispels any fears Vayne might had initially felt way before actual panic even has the chance to bloom inside her.
With the mystery of her whereabouts solved, the Night Hunter relaxes back on her pillows. Shauna suddenly feeling immensely thankful for all the pain-numbing chemicals circulating within her bloodstream, when Vayne faintly recalls the reason for her being sent to the Institute's infirmary in the first place.
But of course! She just had to play the hero again, didn't she?
The vampiric huntress reluctantly closes her eyes. Hoping that sleep might find her before the effects of her painkillers diminish considerably and she will have to suffer through the rest of the night without their aid.
The possibility of such an outcome isn't realized, however, as somebody clears their throat inside the dimly lit room. The unamused huntress opens her ruby eyes once more, this time finally noticing the unwelcome figure that has been quietly sitting in the shadows of her room for at least a few minutes now.
It doesn't take long for Vayne to put a name on the blurry, shadow-veiled figure that's staring at her from the cold, inky blackness. After all, the Night Hunter only knows of one person that's fond of slithering down the hallways of the Institute of War and possesses such inhuman, serpentine, golden eyes.
Vayne remains silent as the seconds keep ticking by, hoping that her visitor will get bored of the silent treatment and walk away. But unfortunately, whatever irritable reason Cassiopeia Du Couteau has decided to personally visit her about, is apparently important enough for the Noxian aristocrat to ignore her rudeness. The cursed Noxian lamia has no qualms about playing the waiting game with Vayne, or so it seems.
Well, the damn snake-woman can play the game alone, the Night Hunter ruefully decides.
Vayne is presently drugged, pumped full of painkillers. She literally can't feel her legs, so if there is ever a time for someone to avoid social interactions and midnight talks with an enemy champion in general, it is actually right now. Shauna will get her peace and quiet, etiquette be damned!
Regrettably for the annoyed Night Hunter however, Cassiopeia seems to have other plans for the rest of her night rather than to simply brood in the shadows while Vayne is sleeping. Conversing being one of them, apparently, because of course people have to make small talk with her while she is recovering, instead of letting Vayne get some well-earned rest.
"Soraka informed me that you weren't supposed to wake up until the next morning." The serpentine woman offers conversationally, all factual and refined as she straightens her shoulders and weaves her taloned hands on her lap. The cursed seductress' scaly, emerald tail silently pooling around Cassiopeia's chair in a way that looks surprisingly ladylike.
"Perhaps I am still sleeping. Perhaps this is all a dream, maybe you should return back to your chambers and we can find out which one of us is dreaming tomorrow morning," Vayne tries to drive her point home. She is not really in the mood for conversing with seductresses and witches, now, or in the foreseeable future.
Carrying the mantle of the Night Hunter involves investigating suspicious occult activities and putting guilty witches three feet under, so it shouldn't come as a surprise to dear Cass, of all people that the wounded vampire on the mattress is less than excited to see her.
If the Noxian champion realizes that she is unwelcome here, she doesn't bother showing it and instead continues to examine Vayne from the dark. The Serpent's golden orbs, intelligent as they are abominable, locked on the bedridden form of the illustrious, wounded huntress.
"Why did you push her out of the way from the speeding carriage, Night Hunter?" Cassiopeia abruptly asks, the tip of the Noxian's serpentine tail tapping the floor at a slow, almost hypnotic rhythm.
"I didn't. I stumbled on a pebble and fell. Your stupid sister just happened to be walking in front of me when it happened," Sternly replies the injured Demacian. "Shoving her out of the way was an accident, of that I can assure you, Snake."
“I was there Vayne, I saw what happened,” Cassiopeia instantly scoffs, “I had just finished settling my sister's tab and was exiting Gragas' questionable establishment right behind you when the whole thing happened," The Noxian serpent continues, her tone even.
"You were at least seven meters away from dear Katarina, until you saw her drunkenly strolling down the road with a mug of ale in hand and the carriage making a beeline for her buttocks. That's when you lunged towards Katarina, pushing her out from the vehicle's path. You getting stomped by the horses instead of Kat was certainly not an accident on your part."
A few silent minutes drag by as Cassiopeia lets her words sink in. The tapping of the cursed Seductress' tail still rattling the floorboards with impatient, yet lazy, methodical movements.
"Even if I didn't happen to lose my balance, the Sinister Blade could have Shunpo-ed away in time to avoid being crushed to death." Vayne spits out, only for the cursed redhead to lowly cackle at the statement, mirthlessly.
"I wish," Mutters Cassiopeia in reply sadly. "Dear Katarina was more wasted than a Yordle in Bilgewater. Your utterly unexpected, yet timely intervention has more than likely saved her life tonight."
The rhythmic taping of the Seductress' tail stops, exotic golden irises intently burrowing straight into the sanguine depths of the Demacian huntress' eyes.
"But you already knew that, didn't you?” Says Cassiopeia, “You realized that Katarina was about to die, that is why you so clumsily stumbled seven meters across the street in the blink of an eye in order to push my sister to safety. That is why you so unluckily stumbled your way underneath the carriage's wheels, instead of the victim being my more-fragile sibling."
The solitary Demacian vampire simply stares at her fellow monster.
"I tripped," Mutters the antisocial, pale huntress gruffly after a while from her infirmary bed. Most of the damage done to Vayne's bandaged and shattered legs already recovering, thanks to the Night Hunter's supernatural, vampiric healing factor, "That's all there is to it." Insists Vayne, but Cassiopeia has already made up her mind it seems, for the Serpent's Embrace slowly gets up from her seat and slithers next to the bedridden vampire's side. The Noxian blueblood's slit pupils still pined on the Demacian woman's hellish scarlet orbs.
Somewhere outside of the infirmary building an owl starts hooting in the dead of night, before abruptly ceasing.
"Whatever the real nature of Katarina's rescue, bizarre accident or not, it doesn't change the fact that you have saved the life of my precious sister tonight," The cunning lamia states from the shadows.
"You've made a great service to me and my House today," With a grace that's surprising for a woman that possesses the lower body of a snake, Cassiopeia gently grasps Vayne's pale hand in her own. She then lowers herself down and kisses it softly, the Noxian Seductress' serpentine eyes never once straying from those of the stunned Night Hunter.
A monster that is showing affection to a monster.
"Thank you, Shauna." The cursed redhead faintly whispers in the dark, as if Cassiopeia is afraid that someone outside the room might hear the words of her genuine, heartfelt gratitude and forge a dagger from her blatant weakness.
The Night Hunter can only blink is surprise, when the usually haughty and manipulative Cassiopeia Du Couteau, suddenly displays such humility in front of another.
"If there is ever something you need that I or my House can provide, do not hesitate naming it and I shall do my best to accommodate you. The members of the noble house of Du Couteau never forget to repay the debts that they owe."
And just like that, with a small tug of the lips that could be barely even considered a fleeting, friendly smile, Cassiopeia releases Vayne's hand and slithers out of the depressingly-bare infirmary room. A bit of extra movement on her hips as the Serpent's Embrace gently closes the door behind her after wishing Shauna a good night.
The speechless Demacian stares at the door long after Cassiopeia and her slithering strut disappears from Vayne’s sight. Then unwittingly, the vampire’s gaze flickers to the hand that Cassiopeia had kissed and blinks at the pale appendage dumbly.
“What have I gotten myself into?”